Open Letter To The Churches Of Christ

This serves as both an open letter to ministers, and others, in the Church of Christ and a bit of an inside look at the Church of Christ. Almost every source used comes from the writings of Church of Christ preachers and college professors. A bibliography is available at the end of the article.(1)

DEFINITION:

Churches of Christ are "autonomous Christian congregations associated with one another through distinct beliefs and practices based on their interpretation of the Bible...they believe in using only biblical precedents for their doctrine and practices, citing examples from the early Christian church as described in the New Testament. The churches of Christ identify themselves as being nondenominational."(2)

Church of Christ members are to be commended for their sincere efforts to be true students of the Bible. They are trying to bring the church back to a pure biblical faith where obedience is essential. This is a good thing. They are an example to us in their effort to restore biblical Christianity. With that sentiment, we as evangelicals, unite with them regarding the Bible being the inerrant Word of God.

However, many Christians believe that the Church of Christ is in error on several key issues. "We should note that Church of Christ people are not monolithic in their views. For simplicity's sake, we can divide the group into two factions. One group is the traditional faction. This group is sometimes referred to by outsiders as "ultraconservative" or "legalistic" or "legalistic patternists."(3) Another term is "hardliners." The distinguishing factor of the traditional group is that they believe salvation is, at least in part, by the works of mankind. "A second minority group has moved away from legalism to a more orthodox position consistent with other Protestants."(4) This second group emphasizes, like most other Christians, that salvation is by grace.

For the purpose of this article the focus is primarily on addressing the views of the legalists, the "hardliners"—the traditional norm within the Church of Christ. Following this paragraph is a summary of the doctrines of the majority within the Churches of Christ. The list is believed by all within the legalistic, or fundamental, group and at least some are believed by the majority within the Church of Christ.

SUMMARY OF DOCTRINE:(5)

They believe that their group has restored the New Testament church—"the ancient order." All other groups are in error, lost, and apostate. 

They reject denominationalism and believe that they themselves are not a denomination. This is an unquestioned orthodoxy and they are careful not to use the term "other denominations" as that would include themselves in the denominational world.

They often deny that there are true Christians in the denominational world.

They put very high emphasis on "wearing the right name," which means that any group that does not call itself the "church of Christ" cannot be part of the true church.

They shun the use of the historic creeds and confessions of Christendom and believe that they have no creed themselves, relying only on the Bible. Their views, however, are in print in journals and numerous tracts. And they are famous for the creed-like formula: "Hear, Believe, Repent, Confess, and Be Baptized."

The gospel is often defined in terms of what a person must do to be saved—"obey the gospel." This is distinctly different from other Christian groups who understand the gospel to be the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins.

Baptism is only by immersion and it is an unstated inference that baptism can only be performed by another member of the Church of Christ. It is crucial that the one being baptized understand that their baptism is specifically for the remission of sins. Anyone not baptized by this formula is doomed to hell.

They believe that the New Testament is primarily a new legal code—the Law of Christ—that replaces the one of the Old Testament. One must follow rigidly the New Testament by their hermeneutic formula of "Direct Command, Approved Example, and Necessary Inference"—although exactly what examples are "approved" and what inferences are "necessary" divide the various factions within the group. No faction, however, ever provides a list of exactly what things one must do to be saved.

They believe in patternism, that is, they attempt to copy what they think the earliest Christians did in their life and worship. They find patternism to be a necessary inference that must be rigidly followed in order to be pleasing to God (and thus saved).

This approach, they believe, leads to certain important conclusions such as the prohibition of instrumental music in worship.

They generally reject the Old Testament except in such instances that they find passages in the Old Testament that lend support to their doctrine.

According to historian Richard Hughes (see bibliography), grace is understood by the CC as something that God is obligated to give the believer who is obedient—though they would not phrase it this way. They will say that we are saved by grace, but . . . It's what comes after the "but" that is important. What comes after the "but" is not consistent among them; here are some answers they may give: (a) God's grace provides a "way" to salvation, but it's up to us to save ourselves. (b) We are saved by grace up to the time of baptism and then it is up to us to maintain our salvation by obedience. (c) Our response to God's grace is essential to receive the free gift of salvation, but that response involves "works of obedience" and not "works of merit." They do not see grace as the regeneration of our dead spirits, as a work of God apart from anything we do or can do.